Wednesday, December 29, 2010

some questions and answers

With the reveal of the first challenge theme just a couple of days away I thought I would post about what happens once we announce the first theme and answer some questions that some of you have emailed me about the challenge...

When will we find out what the theme is?
Sometime on 1/1/11 Jill Berry, whose our first theme chooser, will post the theme for January. Subsequent months themes will always be announced on the first day of each month.

What if I just don't want to draw in my sketchbook?You can work in any medium that you like - paint, watercolor, pen & ink, charcoal, collage, marker, crayon or something else. You might even want to use this as an opportunity to explore a medium that you've never tried. This is a great time to break into those supplies that you bought but never got around to taking out of the package and using. Your sketchbook should be a reflection of you and you should feel free to explore and work in any mediums that you want.

How many pages should I create?There's no minimum or maximum. You should work in your sketchbook as often as you like and create as many pages as you are inspired to. Of course the more you work in it, the more you'll want to so you might just find yourself opening it up every single day to add a little something to the pages here and there. There's no rule that says you have to work in just one book at a time so you might want to mix it up a bit and have several different ones going at once. Maybe one for wet media such as acrylic and watercolors, one for pen and ink and one for collage. Or you might want to have a few different sizes to work in. One large one for working in while you're in the studio and a smaller one to carry around with you when you leave the house. Sketchbook Challenge artist Jane LaFazio will be working in single sheets for this challenge and that might be something you might like to try too.

How should I share photos of my pages?You can post photos of your pages to your own blog if you have one and if you do then leave a link to the posts in the comments section of the theme post so others can find it. You can also post photos to the special flickr group that we've set up. You'll find that here and if you're new to flickr you'll find some directions about how to upload photos here.

How do I become eligible for those awesome prize packages?
In order to be eligible for one of January's prize packages you must post at least one photo of a sketchbook page related to the theme (to be announced on 1/1/11) to the Sketchbook Challenge Flickr group and you MUST tag one of your January photos with the code "jan246". IMPORTANT: PLEASE ONLY TAG ONE OF YOUR PHOTOS with this special code! It doesn't matter which one and it is not necessary to tag more than one and it will not increase your chances of winning. (the tag code will change each month and will be announced with each theme). To tag a photo, upload it to flickr and then once it finishes uploading click the "add a description" link and you'll see a box to add a description and a box where you can add tags.

Winners will be chosen based on random draw on 1/31/11 and announced on the Sketchbook Challenge blog either on that day or on 2/1/11. If you are a winner you must contact Sue at sue@suebleiweiss.com with your full name and mailing address within 14 days of the announcement so that we can ship your prize package out to you.

What happens if I skip a month, am I out of the challenge?
Absolutely not! This is an open challenge so you can participate as much or as little as you want and as your schedule and situation allows. Of course we encourage you to take part in each months challenge even if that means just creating one page a week or even every two weeks but we know that each persons situation is unique to them so play along as much as you can with us and don't worry if you get sidetracked by obligations and have to skip a month.
How do I sign up for the challenge?
You don't have to do anything special to sign up for the challenge and there is no deadline or sign up by date. It's an open challenge so you can join in anytime you like. If you want to add a badge to your blog to show that you're participating in the project you can find more information on how to do that here.

Who can I email for help or other questions that I have?
If you have any questions about the Sketchbook Challenge email sue@suebleiweiss.com You'll also find more information about the Sketchbook Challenge here.

16 comments:

I found you from a badge on another blogger's page last week. I've been reading along since and can't wait to start the challenges! This post really cleared up a couple of questions I had. Thanks for the great idea, ladies.

Thank you for this post; it answered so many questions that I was wondering about. It's all so exciting I can't wait for Jan 1! I am curious about one other thing. I have signed up, have my badge and have posted warm up sketches on flicker. This is what I'm wondering about: the side bar, on the right of this page lists Artists...are these artists in the challenge? If so, I was wondering why I'm not listed...Pam Malafronte

Hi Pam, the artists you see listed on the side bar make up the 16 artists that founded the Sketchbook challenge. Consider us your hosts for the year for this challenge. These are the artists that will be posting on this blog throughout the year showing you the insides of their sketchbooks, posting tutorials and tips and even some videos.

Great answers for questions I didn't even know I had! ;D I understand now why my friend had the misconception that this was a competition. I missed the part where it was said there would be prizes so now I know why she thought it was a competition. I'm so glad it's NOT a competition and I look forward to expanding my horizons!

Thanks for the informative post, Sue. Gee, I didn't even realise there were prizes on offer when I signed up....an added bonus! I laid all my sketchbooks out on the art table yesterday. I'm keen to give them lots of attention. :)

Great information and instructions here for ones like me that get a bit confused. I did not even realize that prizes were going to be offered and what a wonderful idea. I've joined just to get out of my comfort zone a bit and explore the horizons. Thanks so much for this challenge. Have a wonderful New Year.

So happy to have come upon this.. I would love to be participating in this.. I love journals, making my own, and am a watercolorist.. This is an opportunity to do more than one thing.. Thanks. love this.